Sheetmetal rolling machine

ABSTRACT

A machine for the curving and rolling of sheet metal consisting of one rigid forming roller on either side of which is mounted at least two curving rollers which are covered with a pliable elastic material. The forming roller, mounted in a free floating manner to simplify the removal of the resulting sheet metal tube, is kept between the curving rollers without any possibility of moving out of place. The sheet metal curving and rolling machine uses three curving rollers placed 120* apart around the central forming roller.

[ Aug. 19, 1975 United States Patent 1191 Ogier et a1.

2,454,282 11/1948 Johnson.1..............................72/169 2,719,562 10/1955 3,431,622

[ SHEETMETAL ROLLING MACHINE Beegle 3/1969 Ainthor et a1. 72/169 X 3,738,149 6/1973 Archer..... 72/171 Inventors: Paul Ogier, Vaugneray; Christian Queyroix, Lyon, both of France [73] Assignee: Agence Nationale de Valorisation de la Recherche (ANVAR), France Mar. 27, 1974 Appl. No.: 455,191

Primary ExaminerMilton S. Mehr Filed Attorney, Agent, or FirmBasile and Weintraub [57] ABSTRACT A machine for the curving and rolling of sheet metal [52] US. Cl. 72/169; 72/702; 72/171;

consisting of one rigid forming roller on either side of which is mounted at least two curving rollers which are covered with a pliable elastic material. The forming roller, mounted in a free floating manner to sim- 511 1m. 58 Field of 72/169, 173-175 plify the removal of the resulting sheet metal tube, is kept between the curving rollers without any possibility of moving out of place. The sheet metal curving References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS and rolling machine uses three curving rollers placed 120 72/169 apart around the central forming roller. 72/702 72/169 X 3 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures L020 Farrand 928,220 7/1909 Schneider 2 062 591 12/1936 Mather PATENTEU AUG 1 9 ms SEZCET 2 OF 2 SHEETMETAL ROLLING MACHINE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention is relative to improvements applicable to machines presently used in the curving and rolling of sheet metal.

2. Description of the Prior Art There are machines of this type which use in part, a rigid forming roller, upon which the sheet metal being worked rolls on, and a curving roller which is covered with a pliable elastic covering (natural or synthetic rubber, urethane etc.). It is imperative that the forming roller be firmly mounted at each end, in such a way as to avoid any movement caused by the metal tube as it wraps itself around the forming roller. The removal of the sheet metal tube requires the disassembly of one of the two pillow-block supports on the forming roller, the disassembly of which requires a considerable amount of time and therefore loss of production. Regardless of the case and maintenance given to the curving and forming rollers, it is in practice impossible to obtain perfect tubes without any bends or flaws, especially when dealing with long pieces on small diameter rollers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The improvements which are the object of this present invention attempt to rectify the aforementioned faults, and allow the construction of a sheet metal rolling machine which would be of more practical value to the industry.

The curving or rolling machine of the present invention comprises one forming roller and at least two curving rollers covered with a pliable elastic material and mounted on each sideof the forming roller in such a way to eliminate any movement which may occur in the rolling process.

A sandwich" mounting arrangement of the forming roller permits the rolling of perfect sheet metal curves or tubes, without any flaws, with the same diameter as that of the forming roller. with varying thicknesss of the sheet metal to be formed. The forming roller is held in position at only one end by a pillow-block mounting arrangement, which leaves the other end open for the removal of the sheet metal tube. The tube is easily removed by simply sliding it off the forming roller without disassembly being required. It will also be notice that the free floating pillow-block mounting will allow the rolling of any desired length of tubing from a large roll of metal.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The attached example drawings, allow a better understanding of the invention, its characteristics and the advantages which it has to offer.

FIGS. 1 and 2 depict a sheet metal rolling machine as described by this invention.

FIG. 3 depicts a variation of the machine using three curving rollers.

FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of a sheet metal rolling machine using 3 curving rollers as described in FIG. 3 above.

FIG. 5 illustrates an improvement which can be applied to FIGS. 3 and 4.

FIG. 6 illustrates an end view of the forming roller with the resulting metal tube.

FIG. 7 is an end view of the metal tube after it has been removed from the forming roller.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, 1 illustrates a rigid forming roller, the diameter of which is the same as the diameter of the desired tube. On either side of the forming roller 1 above and below, are mounted two curving rollers 2, each having the same diameter as the forming roller 1. The curving roller 2 are made of a metal center covered with a pliable elastic material. As shown in FIG. 1, the forming roller 1 is supported by a free floating pillow-block mounting at one of its ends, attached to a frame support 3 which also supports one end of each curving roller 2, the opposite ends of which are mounted on pillow-block supports 4. It should be noted, that of the three rollers 1 and 2, rollers 2 are mounted in a channel which allows vertical displacement whenever any resistance is felt.

It can thus be seen that the forming roller 1 is free to position itself between the two curving rollers 2 which support it in a perfect position while absorbing any irregularities during the rolling process. The sheet metal 5 to be formed (Fig. 2) is placed between the rigid forming roller 1 and one of the curving rollers 2 Where it wraps around the forming roller 1 without any distortions. The turning of the forming roller 1 and/or one of the curving rollers 2 can be accomplished in several ways, i.e. mannually, geared down electric motor etc.. Once the sheet metal 5 has been rolled around the forming roller 1, it can be easily removed without any disassembly simply by sliding it out the open end of the forming roller 1 (Fig. 1).

It can be seen that better curves and tubes can be obtained by using a machine as shown in Fig. 3, consisting of three curving rollers 2 placed apart, around the central forming roller 1. Fig. 4 illustrates such a machine.

As shown, this machine has a frame formed by two vertical side plates 10, joined together by two crossmembers 11 on the bottom, a major cross-member plate 12 on the top and by some minor cross-member tubes 13. Each side plate 10 is cut out at the top in the shape of an inverted Y 100. In the vertical part of each opening is mounted a grooved carriage assembly 14, the two carriage assemblies 14 supporting between them, the main curving roller 15 of the machine. The carriage assemblies 14 are controlled vertically by hydraulic screw-jacks, the cylinders 16 of which are mounted in an adjustable manner on the top cross member 12 of the frame while a moveable anchor ring of the cylinder shaft 17 is attached to the correspond ing carriage assembly 14.

Each of the angled parts of the inverted Y 10a mounts a pillow-block mounting 18 connected to a controlling mechanism 19. The pillow-block mounts 18 which are opposite each other, support the two other curving rollers 20. The three curving rollers 15 and 20 are covered with a pliable elastic material. A forming roller 21 is centered between the curving rollers 15 and 20. The forming roller 21 has one end open and free, while the other end is attached to a free floating pillowblock mount 22. The latter are grooved and fit between two vertical guides 23 which are attached to support plate 10. A small spring 24 tends to push the pillowblock mount to the top, that is, in the direction of the main curving roller.

In order not to make the drawings too Complicated, the mechanism for the rotation of the rollers has not been shown. This mechanism could be an independent hydraulic motor, mounted at one end of each of the aforementioned rollers, in such a way so as to obtain the desired rotation and speed.

The function and utilization of the machine herein described is easily understood. Firstly, within the pillow-block 22, there is mounted a forming roller 21 of the same diameter as that of the required sheet metal tube. Then the position of the two curving rollers 20 is adjusted by means of the mechanism 19, in such a way that the pliable elastic covering of these rollers 20 are applied against the forming roller 21. Applying rotation to the curving rollers, 21 piece of sheet metal is inserted between roller 21 and one of the two curving rollers 20, while at the same time, the screw-jacks l6 and 17 are extended. The forming roller is therefore automatically positioned between the three curving rollers such that the sheet metal wraps itself around the forming roller. The resulting metal tube is removed through opening 10a at the free end of the forming roller 21, after the pressure on screw-jacks 16 and 17 has been relieved.

As indicated at the beginning of this description, a perfect sheet metal tube is obtained without any flaws or distortions. By varying pressure, the machine described in the invention is capable of rolling, on very small diameter rollers, sheet metal of considerable thickness, and minimizes rolled edges on the curved ends of the tubes. To compensate for the eventual depressions which will occur in the curving rollers, the pliable elastic covering should be applied in a convex manner. Finally, as shown in Figure 5, the three curving rollers can be controlled by one controller unit, simplifying even more, the removal of the sheet metal tube from the forming roller.

The resulting tube diameter is identical to the diameter of the forming roller, but because sheet metal has a tendency to spring back when it is rolled, the two ends of the sheet metal tube will spring apart when the curving rollers are pulled away from the forming roller. To avoid this inconvenience, we can make use of forming roller 25 in Figure 6. This end view of the forming roller shows an undercut 25arunning the entire length of the roller, the depth of which is the same as the thickness of the sheet metal 26 to be rolled. In other words, the circumference of roller 25 is such that after one revolution, it equals the required diameter of the sheet metal tube plus an amount equal to the thickness of the sheet metal so that when the two ends are joined, the exact tube diamenter is obtained.

The resulting sheet metal tube is considerably wider than the length of the sheet metal required to form it. After rolling the sheet metal tube with the machine described in Figure 4, the two ends of the resulting tube will overlap 26b. Once the three curving rollers have been retracted, as per Figure 5, the metal tube 26 tends to spring open as shown in Figure 7. The two ends, 26aand 26bmaintain the same general alignment, so well that their assembly using a solder method indicates that very little pressure is present, in any case very little pressure as compared to machines in use today. All that need be done is to bring the two ends together in a circle. After soldering the sheet metal tube together, it can be seen that this is a profitable and practical way of manufacturing.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. A machine for the curving and rolling of sheet metal, and comprising:

a rigid forming roller;

means for mounting one end of the forming roller to allow free floating of the forming roller during operation of the machine and to allow for easy removal of the sheet metal from the unmounted end after rolling;

a plurality of curving rollers disposed at arcuately spaced locations around the forming roller, the curving rollers having a cover fabricated from a pliable elastic material;

movable pillow block mount means, the curving rollers being mounted in said movable pillow block mount to permit radial adjustment of the curving rollers with respect to the forming roller; and

means carried by the pillow block mount means for locking the curving rollers into desired radial positions with respect to said forming roller to allow the curving rollers to rotate about a fixed axis during the sheet metal rolling operation.

2. The machine defined in claim 1 further comprising vertical side plates which carry the pillow block mount means and the means for mounting for forming roller.

3. The machine defined in claim 1 in which the forming roller had an undercut running the entire length of the roller, the depth of which is the same as the thickness of the sheet metal to be rolled effecting an exact tube diameter once the two ends of the formed sheet metal are joined. 

1. A machine for the curving and rolling of sheet metal, and comprising: a rigid forming roller; means for mounting one end of the forming roller to allow free floating of the forming roller during operation of the machine and to allow for easy removal of the sheet metal from the unmounted end after rolling; a plurality of curving rollers disposed at arcuately spaced locations around the forming roller, the curving rollers having a cover fabricated from a pliable elastic material; movable pillow block mount means, the curving rollers being mounted in said movable pillow block mount to permit radial adjustment of the curving rollers with respect to the forming roller; and means carried by the pillow block mount meAns for locking the curving rollers into desired radial positions with respect to said forming roller to allow the curving rollers to rotate about a fixed axis during the sheet metal rolling operation.
 2. The machine defined in claim 1 further comprising vertical side plates which carry the pillow block mount means and the means for mounting for forming roller.
 3. The machine defined in claim 1 in which the forming roller had an undercut running the entire length of the roller, the depth of which is the same as the thickness of the sheet metal to be rolled effecting an exact tube diameter once the two ends of the formed sheet metal are joined. 